Smooth Quake
This page contains solutions and tips for various tearing, lagging, jerky and sucky Quake configurations.
Some of the tunings are for advanced users only. Do not change anything unless you know what you are doing.
Hardware
Sync technologies
- Vertical syncronization (vsync) should be disabled while playing. It causes input lag.
- FreeSync and G-Sync/compatible provide a tearless image. It will keep your fps and monitor Hz synced without additional input lag.
- Black Frame Insertion (BFI) strobes the backlight synchronized with Hz for CRT-like motion clarity (cathode-ray tube).
Brands use different names for BFI. This adds a bit of input lag and creates a double image effect called crosstalk.
However, as of 2023, Nvidia launched ULMB2 which looks very promising without these downsides.
Nvidia ULMB2 announcement
Optimum Tech ULMB2 comparison
Monitor
Ideally, an IPS panel with at least 240Hz minimum is recommended. But any 144hz or more screen will work great!
Why IPS? TN has bad colors and viewing angles, VA has slow response time and OLED has burn-in risk and is expensive.
The pixels response time must stay inside the refresh cycle (1000/Hz) to avoid blur and take full advantage of the monitor's Hz.
Example: the refresh cycle of a 240hz monitor is 1000/240=4.16ms, if the pixel response time is above that, its going to generate blur.
You can read about the pixel response time for your monitor here. Sort the column by rise/fall time.
Some monitors have a fast enough response time but at the cost of ghosting. Take this into account.
UFO Test shows how your monitor responds so you can select a proper overdrive setting.
Example products: Asus VG279QM Aperture Grille's review.
Mouse
Any modern mouse should be ok.
Most mouse companies add smoothing after a certain DPI level (usually 1800) but a few brands have it disabled for all DPI ranges.
Smoothing is basically input lag. It's added in the firmware, not the sensor.
You should only use native DPI values to avoid interpolation. 1000Hz and DPI of 800 minimum is recommended.
A good mouse should not have problems such as smoothing, angle snapping, jitter and DPI deviation.
Example products: Pixart 3389 sensor (1600 DPI no smoothing added).
Battle(non)sense DPI analysis
Optimum Tech DPI analysis
Keyboard
1000Hz minimum is ideal simply because it has lower input lag than regular 125hz keyboards. Explanation.
Note: with 1000Hz+ mouse and keyboard you should use separate dedicated usb chips or a PCIe USB card.
Example products: EVGA Z20 and Corsair K70 Rapidfire/Champion models are fast but expensive.
Software
Do not change anything unless you know what you are doing!
BIOS
Suggestions:
- Spread Spectrum: Disable
- CPU Core Ratio: Sync All Cores
- PCI-E Native Power Management: Disable
- ASPM Support: Disable
Windows
Suggestions:
Installation
1. Download original Windows iso with MediaCreationTool from MS and install.
2. Install Visual C.
3. Install all WUpdates including drivers.
Settings
- Control Panel > Mouse > Pointer Options > Enhance pointer precision > Disable
- Start > Settings > Accessibility > Keyboard > Sticky Keys > Disable the shortcuts.
- Start > Settings > Apps > Startup > Disable what you don't need.
- Start > Settings > Update & Security (W10) > Delivery Optimization > Disable
- Start > Settings > Windows Update (W11) > Advanced options > Delivery Optimization > Disable
- Start > Settings > System > Display > Graphics > Change Default Graphics Settings (W11) > GPU Scheduling > Enable
- Start (W10) > Settings > Privacy > Background apps > Disable
- GPedit.msc (W11) > Computer Configuration >Administrative Templates > Windows Components > App Privacy > Let Windows apps run in the background > "Enabled" and "Force Deny"
- GPedit.msc (W11) > Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > Widgets > Disable
- MS Edge > ellipses (…) > Settings > System and performance > Continue running BG ext and apps when MS Edge is closed > Disabled
- Google Chrome > ellipses (...) > Settings > System > Continue running background apps when Google Chrome is closed > Disabled
Services
- TCP/IP NetBIOS Helper (also in: protocol tcp/ipv4 > advanced settings > wins) > Disabled
- Windows Search (Indexer is only required if you search your directories and files) > Disabled
Integrity
(by this order in cmdline as admin)
1. DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /CheckHealth
2. DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /ScanHealth
3. DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth
4. sfc /scannow
5. findstr /c:"[SR]" %windir%\Logs\CBS\CBS.log >"%userprofile%\Desktop\sfcdetails.txt"
NVIDIA
Suggestions:
- NVCP > Global Settings > OpenGL GPU > Nvidia (to avoid issues with integrated cards being used)
- NVCP > ezQuake profile > OpenGL GDI compatibility > prefer compatibility
- NVCP > ezQuake profile > Power management mode > prefer maximum performance
- NVCP > ezQuake profile > Texture filtering > Negative LOD bias > clamp
- NVCP > ezQuake profile > Threaded Optimization > Auto (disable this setting if ezQ gets sluggish/stutters)
- NVCP > ezQuake profile > Vulkan/OpenGL present method > prefer native
- NvidiaProfileInspector > Other > Maximum Frames Allowed = 1 (Pre-rendered frames for OGL. Low Latency Mode is only for DX)
AMD/ATI
(to be added)
ezQuake
Frametime should be less than 1.4ms with 1001 fps and ping deviation less than 0.5ms.
During certain transitions some minor tearing appears in the middle of the screen but barely noticeable.
You can use multiples of 77 (server updates) that get close to your monitor Hz for a smoother image.
These are the closest fps with the off values for common Hz.source
144Hz: 1001 (-7) ; 1155 (+3)
165Hz: 1155 (0) ; 2310 (0)
240Hz: 1925 (+5) ; 2156 (-4) ; 4081 (+1)
280Hz: 2233 (-7) ; 3080 (0)
360Hz: 1078 (-2) ; 2156 (-4)
480Hz: 1925 (+5)
500Hz: 1001 (+1) ; 2002 (+2)
540Hz: 1078 (-2) ; 1617 (-3) ; 2156 (-4)
Network Throttling (NT): This is part of the Multimedia Class Scheduler Service (MMCSS).
If ezQ is running on the same cores where network data (DPC) is processed, sys_yieldcpu 0 will cause deviation (check with hud_net_show 1).
You can disable NT, use sys_yieldcpu 1 or set affinity for ethernet (see Advanced Windows Settings) and ezQ to exclude each other.
Winkey+R > regedit > HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Multimedia\SystemProfile > NetworkThrottlingIndex = ffffffff in hexadecimal to disable ; [10-70] range in decimal and default is 10.
Launch
GPU (ATI and NVIDIA) sends interrupts to core0. When Windows sends ezQuake cpu load there and it gets high usage, there will be fps drops.
Excluding core0 from ezQuake will keep fps stable in this situation. Windows distributes cpu load but ezQuake only makes use of two cores.
CPU affinity calculator shows you what hexadecimal value you need to set in cmdline after /affinity (replace the word <HexVal> with the value you got from the calculator without all the starting 0x0 zeros). If your cpu has Hyper-Threading you need to exclude cpu0 and cpu1.
Ex.: A CPU with 4 cores and Hyper-Threading (8 threads) the hexadecimal is FC. With 4 cores and no HT the hexadecimal is E.
You can change Windows power plan to High Performance while playing and restore it back to Balanced when finished.
Open command line and type powercfg -l to see their GUID. They should match the ones below.
To switch power plans open notepad and place these 3 lines (without the comment), change game path, and save as .bat extension:
powercfg -s 8c5e7fda-e8bf-4a96-9a85-a6e23a8c635c (#high performance power profile)
start "" /wait /affinity <HexVal> "<your Quake path and executable, ex.: D:\Quake\ezquake.exe>"
powercfg -s 381b4222-f694-41f0-9685-ff5bb260df2e (#balanced power profile)
If you always use power plan High Performance just right click ezquake.exe > send to > desktop (create shortcut) with this cmdline:
%ComSpec% /C start "" /affinity <HexVal> "ezquake.exe"
Settings
Suggestions:
cl_maxfps 1001 (recommended or more ; use at least 770)
cl_newlerp 0.1 (smooths projectiles movement)
gl_powerupshells 1 (flashing layer over own weapon and players carrying powerups)
gl_clipparticles 1 (limits particles close to you, keeps fps stable)
r_particles_count 16384 (is just a limit, won't affect performance if particles don't reach it)
r_dynamic
2 (1 = cpu ; 2 = gpu: recommended)
gl_flashblend 0 (if you need fps, set 1 and r_dynamic 0)
gl_caustics
1 (consumes around 300fps even outside liquids)
gl_anisotropy 1 (1 = off ; Note: fps demanding if enabled)
gl_lerpimages 0 (deprecated, do not enable)
gl_texturemode gl_linear_mipmap_linear (always use mipmap or fps will drop alot)
gl_outline 1 (1 = models ; 2 = world ; 3 = models + world ; Note: fps demanding if enabled)
r_farclip 8192 (keeps entities visible at very large distances)
sys_yieldcpu 0 (system dependent, set 1 if you notice input lag)
gl_multisamples 0 (Note: fps demanding if enabled)
vid_framebuffer 0 (enable if you want gl_outline for world ; Note: fps demanding if enabled)
vid_gammacorrection 0
vid_grab_keyboard 0 (causes several issues if enabled)
vid_hwgammacontrol 2
vid_renderer 1
vid_software_palette 0 (enabled causes white pixels if contrast is below 1.1 ; Note: fps demanding if enabled)
vid_usedesktopres 1
s_khz 48
s_linearresample 0
s_desiredsamples 128 (increase by power of 2 if sound gets distorted)
gl_hwblend 1 (uses hardware for polyblend)
gl_polyblend 0 (Note: fps demanding if enabled)
vid_hwgamma_fps 77
Tools to check performance:
- timedemo2 <demo> <fps> (add 77 as fps after the demo name ; don't use the old timedemo cmd)
- hud_frametime (combine with hud_frametime_max_reset_interval 2 and hud_performance_average 0)
- hud_fps (combine with hud_fps_drop -1 and hud_fps_style 2)
- hud_net
- hud_ping (combine with hud_ping_show_dev 1 and hud_ping_show_pl 1)
- hud_speed
Mouse Input
Use in_raw 1 (default) for Raw mouse input. This should provide the cleanest mouse input data, as opposed to what SDL input provides with in_raw 0, which might suffer from Windows's built-in acceleration curves and other limitations.
Issues
Network: lag spikes
- Interrupt Moderation (IM): If you have a setting to define the rate, the higher the value the more delayed packets are.
Some drivers have a buggy implementation. If you notice issues or want to be safe, disable in ethernet properties.
- Proxy: with default nQuake settings, the server browser automatically finds proxies. It can connect to a server using more than one.
Follow these steps to know if one of them is the culprit.
1. Console > hud_net_show 1 (If "dev" is 1ms+, type cl_proxyaddr and write IPs down)
2. Server Browser > select a server > press 'enter'
In the help shortcut keys box, route indicates how many proxies were found. Press 'n'. This will connect directly bypassing proxies.
If deviation improves then some proxy causes issues.
With the IPs you wrote, set cl_proxyaddr with just one until you find wich one is bad. Sb_ignore_proxy can exclude it from future updates.
Network: packet loss
First, disable UDP Checksum Offload in ethernet advanced properties to see if it's a driver/ethernet bug. If it's not, turn it back on.
If you are experiencing packetloss, you can try to connect to a proxy. But if the problem is your own connection, this won't do anything.
In this situation it makes sense to duplicate/multiply (dupe) the network packets sent from and to the QuakeWorld server, so less packets are lost.
"Dupe" commands expect a numeric argument ([1-3] range). The numeric argument represents the number of duplicate packets.
The default is of course 0, representing 0 duplicated packets.
- Console > setinfo dupe 1 (This tells the server to send to your client 1 duplicated packet). Set it in cl_onload alias for permanent use.
- Console > cl_c2sdupe 1 (This tells your client to send to the server 1 duplicated packet). This is a client setting, so it is saved in your cfg file.
Note: Ensure you have at least /rate 50000. To duplicate packets will increase your bandwidth needs. In case your rate is not enough for the number of packets being received/sent, rate cut will happen.
Performance: unstable FPS
If you feel like the game runs smooth for a while but you recognize small disturbing semi-periodic interrupts, those can be caused by background apps. Open Task Manager (ctrl+alt+del) and check whether some other processes are consuming cpu.
- Start > Admin Tools > Event Viewer > Windows Logs: when you get an fps drop, check the time and see if there is a log that matches it.
- Start > Admin Tools > Task Scheduler > Library: check for tasks from apps you installed that match the Event Viewer logs.
- Uninstall or disable any RGB software (monitor; mouse; keyboard). It causes issues with the system.
- Close apps that monitor sensors (temp, voltage, etc). Find which sensors give issues. GPU causes interruptions, CPU should be fine.
- Process Explorer can set low priority for I/O and memory of processes with the background priority, reducing the impact on the system.
Advanced Windows Settings
Do not change anything unless you know what you are doing!
- Ethernet Affinity: ReceiveSideScaling (RSS) controls DPC which is what causes spikes with Network Throttling and sys_yieldcpu 0.
If your ethernet supports RSS, set queue to 1, assign it to core0 and exclude ezQ from core0.
If you have 6+ cores you can also assign RSS to the last core and exclude ezQ (from it and core0).
If your CPU has Hyper-Threading, the indirection table will be populated accordingly and RSS must be assigned to physical cores.
PowerShell for RSS: Set-NetAdapterRss -Name "Ethernet" -BaseProcessorNumber 0 -NumberOfReceiveQueues 1 -Enabled $true/false
If there is no RSS support, you need to assign (GoInterruptPolicy) ethernet device since both ISR and DPC go to the same core(s).
- Datagram size: Windows supports a fast I/O path which is used when sending "small" datagrams.
The default setting for what is considered a small datagram is 1024 bytes. This is just a cap and increasing this value to the maximum 65536 or to match your MTU (usually 1500), can significantly improve network performance.
HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\AFD\Parameters
Add new DWORD: FastSendDatagramThreshold: 65536 (decimal)
Other OS
Linux
Mac
(to be added)
Finding help
Discord
Streaming
ezQuake documentation
Quakeworld.nu
Link to a previous version of this page now obsolete: Older Smooth Quake